Saturday, May 2, 2015

The shooting occurred Thursday night in the Phoenix suburb of Peoria
while the boy and a 7-year-old brother were being watched by a
grandmother and aunt. The aunt was washing dishes in the kitchen when
the gun went off, according to an audio recording from a 911 call
released by police.

Police say the boy was playing on the bed in the master bedroom when he
found the gun, which belonged to his father, who was not at home at the
time.

The bullet struck the boy's cheek and exited his head, authorities said.
A portion of his skull was removed to alleviate swelling.

Peoria police spokeswoman Shari Howard identified the father as Manuel
Zeschitz-Garrison. He has been cooperating with the investigation, which
is still ongoing. No criminal charges are pending at this time. The boy
is not being identified because he is a juvenile.

Under Arizona state law, incidents where a child is put in a situation
that could cause injury or death can result in child abuse charges.

A female suspect was fatally shot by
Atlanta police after exchanging gunfire with two officers — from the
back of their patrol car, which was across from the precinct, police
said Thursday.

The two male officers
were investigating reports of a stolen car Thursday evening when they
found the suspect in the missing vehicle at a parking deck across from a
police precinct in downtown Atlanta, Police Spokesman Sgt. Gregory Lyon
told NBC News.

The suspect — later
identified as 25-year-old Alexia Christian — was detained and placed in
back of a patrol car, where she pulled out a handgun and shot at the
officers twice, according to NBC affiliate WXIA. The officers returned fire and struck the suspect.

Christian was taken to a local hospital where she died of her injuries.

Lyon said it was too
early in the investigation to definitively say what happened, but he did
note that sometimes male officers don't do comprehensive pat-downs on
female suspects — and he didn't know where the weapon had been stashed
on her.

Neither officer was injured during the exchange. Lyon said Christian and both officers are African American.

Sawyer Shepherd, the 18-year-old senior suspended from Carthage High
School in rural Missouri over having his disassembled turkey gun in his
truck, will graduate with his class.

As previously reported
by Guns.com, Shepherd had been suspended for 10 days and was facing
possible expulsion following an early morning turkey hunt before school
after which he accidentally left his unloaded shotgun locked in his
truck. An anonymous tip called into school administrators led to the
youth owning up to his mistake when confronted and then being forced out
of school due pending review of his case.

In a happy conclusion to an incident that could have derailed the
high school senior’s graduation, the youth is now being given a second
chance.

“He is now back in school, back on the baseball team, attending prom
this Saturday and graduating with his class,” Shepherd’s attorney,
Juddson McPherson, told Guns.com Thursday. “Had the presumed punishment
gone unamended, Sawyer would have been expelled from school for a year
and not been able to finish his baseball season, attended prom or
graduated with the rest of his class.”

"after which he accidentally left his unloaded shotgun locked in his
truck"

This is an example of the lying pro-gun writers always twisting things in their favor. I'd like to know if anyone really believes the kid "accidentally" left the gun in the truck, whatever that even means.

National Rifle Association (NRA) Executive Vice President Wayne
LaPierre relied on numerous falsehoods to claim that President Obama
will move to ban sales of all firearm ammunition before he leaves
office, thus making "the very real nightmare of every single gun owner
in this country" a reality.

In the May issue of the NRA's magazine, America's 1st Freedom, LaPierre wrote,
"President Barack Obama is setting the table to ban your ammunition --
all of it," and claimed that "the remaining two years of Obama's term
pose the greatest threat ever to the Second Amendment and our freedom."

Thursday, April 30, 2015

Actually, as I’ve stated, that was expressed with the wrong emphasis. Because I don’t have any problem with any American having any weapon that they can legally have, that’s what the Second Amendment is for and that’s what it talks about. What I was referring to all the carnage I’ve seen and all the operating that I’ve seen that’s been caused by those weapons falling in the wrong hands. But I subsequently had multiple conversations with the NRA leadership and a lot of people who knew a lot more about it than I did and I tried to make it very clear to people that the second amendment is there for a very important reason.Number one, to make sure that the citizens could assist the military in case of invasion, and to think that that is farfetched, all you have to do is go to the Middle East and see some of the things that are happening there. I have a friend who is a missionary doctor, called me two weeks ago quite distressed, he was over in Iraq, went back to one of the villages that they had helped in before and it was desolate, ISIS had gotten there before them, killed all the men, taken the women captive, I mean, if those people had the ability to defend themselves maybe that wouldn’t have happened. To think that we are completely isolated from that I think is silly, particularly knowing that there are cells in this country right now.But the most important reason for the Second Amendment is so that our people could protect themselves in case our government went off the rails and started thinking it could dominate the people. You know, we think that that is farfetched but you know you look at what has happened historically to nations where the government did become tyrannical and what did they do first? Get rid of people’s guns. Get rid of people’s guns rights. It was Thomas Hobbes, the English philosopher of the 17th century when talking about tyranny in Europe, he said it would never occur in America because American citizens have guns and they won’t let it happen.

On Sept. 2 at Idaho State in Pocatello, a few weeks after a
new guns-on-campus law took effect, chemistry professor Byron Bennett
was lecturing a classroom containing 20 students when a gun somehow fell
out of his pocket and fired.

No student was hit, but Bennett himself—a former University of
Nevada, Las Vegas instructor—was shot in the foot. He had weapons
permits from both Idaho and Utah and had apparently taken instruction in
gun use because the Idaho law requires it.

It was the kind of incident college administrators fear will happen
under guns-on-campus laws, and the kind that insurance companies also
watch.

Nevada legislators who are now considering enacting a law allowing
guns to be carried on campus by people over 21 have given very little
attention to the insurance issue, and the measures they are processing
do not contain language providing funding if insurance costs rise
following the approval of any legislation.

A U.S. appeals court Monday upheld a Chicago suburb's assault weapons
ban that had become a focus in the statewide debate over gun control,
though a dissenting judge sharply criticized the majority opinion.

In a 2-to-1 decision, a panel of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
in Chicago concluded the city of Highland Park's 2013 ban does not
violate the Second Amendment, saying municipalities ought to have leeway in deciding how to regulate firearms.

"If a ban on semi-automatic guns and large-capacity magazines reduces
the perceived risk from a mass shooting, and makes the public feel safer
as a result, that's a substantial benefit," the 12-page majority
opinion says.

The legal battle over Highland Park's ordinance drew national players in
the gun debate, including a brief filed with the 7th Circuit defending
the ban from the Washington, D.C.-based Brady Center to Prevent Gun
Violence, and briefs opposing it filed by weapons manufacturers,
including Sig Sauer Inc., and Smith & Wesson Corp.

Monday's decision sets precedent not just for Illinois but for two other
states in the judicial circuit — Indiana and Wisconsin. Of Illinois'
1,300 municipalities, no more than a few dozen have regulations or bans
similar to Highland Park's.

Since “Concealed Carry” has become the law of the land, and open
carry is allowed in several states, National Gun Victims Action Council
(NGVAC) has speculated that property owners would be liable for gun
injuries on their property if they did not ban guns. Now, Mayer Brown
LLP, a top-ranked international real estate, finance and litigation law
firm, has weighed in on the question at our request.

Mayer Brown, named “Firm of the Year” in the Appellate Law category by U.S. News & World Report
for the second consecutive year, advises that “a property owner who did
not put up the [no guns allowed] signs” would face the argument that it
was entirely “foreseeable” that gun violence, injury or death “would
occur, since he or she failed to prohibit” guns carried either concealed
or openly on his property. Click Link for Illinois Property Owners Research MemorandumJust as supermarkets would be responsible if someone slipped on a
spilled liquid and coffee shops would be responsible if someone burned
themselves with a hot liquid, property owners are governed by a
“common-law standard of care,” Mayer Brown LLP told us, that requires
them to provide a safe environment for employees, visitors and
customers. Failure to satisfy the common-law standard of care has
resulted in massive financial awards against property owners. Several
years ago, airlines, theme parks and health clubs began to be sued under this precept for failing to keep external defibrillators available for customers and employees.

Property owners who fail to put up signs banning guns may well be
found guilty of not maintaining a “common-law standard of care” and face
significant financial risks, says Mayer Brown. Even defending such a
suit would prove extremely costly.

“Obviously, any time we have an accidental shooting, it’s a concern,”
Wichita police Capt. Jeff Weible said. “We encourage people to practice
good firearm safety.”

As of July 1, no training will be required
for someone choosing to carry a concealed weapon, to holster a hidden
gun or carry one in a purse or backpack. Some local law enforcement
officials say they’re concerned that could lead to more shooting mishaps
like those seen recently in and around Wichita.

Sunday, April 26, 2015

In 1993, then-First Lady Clinton told Congress (at 2:00:30 in the video), she was “all for” a 25 percent tax on handguns and “automatic weapons.”In 2000, campaigning for election to the U.S. Senate, Clinton boasted, “I’m the only candidate in this race who supports federal legislation to license handgun owners and register handguns.” She opposed Right-to-Carry laws and supported ballistic “fingerprinting,” lawsuits against firearm manufacturers, a ban on compact handguns, rationing of handgun purchases, banning the possession of handguns by adults under age 21, and empowering the Consumer Products Safety Commission to dictate the design of firearms, which gun control supporters have longed viewed as a way to have handguns banned altogether.As a U.S. Senator, Clinton called for legislation to extend the federal “assault weapon” and “large” magazine ban of 1994. She voted for legislation to require background checks on private sales of firearms at gun shows and legislation to ban most rifle ammunition as “armor piercing.” And she voted against legislation that protects the firearm industry from reckless lawsuits and legislation that prohibits the confiscation of firearms during emergencies and major disasters.In 2008, Clinton said, “we should reinstate the assault weapons ban.” In May 2014, Clinton said (at 30:33 in the video), “I think again we’re way out of balance. I think that we’ve got to rein in what has become an almost article of faith that anybody can have a gun anywhere, anytime.” And in June 2014, Clinton endorsed (at 27:42 in the video) a ban on “assault weapons” and “high-capacity” magazines, along with mandatory background checks on private firearm sales, and said “We cannot let a minority of people [gun owners] . . . hold a viewpoint that terrorizes the majority of people.”